Daily Archives: December 4, 2016

Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult,let the wasteland rejoice and bloom,let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil,let it rejoice and sing for joy.

The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it,the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;they shall see the glory of the Lord,the splendour of our God.

Strengthen all weary hands,steady all trembling kneesand say to all faint hearts,‘Courage! Do not be afraid.

‘Look, your God is coming,vengeance is coming,the retribution of God;he is coming to save you.’

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,the ears of the deaf unsealed,then the lame shall leap like a deerand the tongues of the dumb sing for joy;

for water gushes in the desert,streams in the wasteland,the scorched earth becomes a lake,the parched land springs of water.

The lairs where the jackals used to livebecome thickets of reed and papyrus…

And through it will run a highway undefiledwhich shall be called the Sacred Way;the unclean may not travel by it,nor fools stray along it.

No lion will be therenor any fierce beast roam about it,but the redeemed will walk there,for those the Lord has ransomed shall return.

They will come to Zion shouting for joy,everlasting joy on their faces;joy and gladness will go with themand sorrow and lament be ended.

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Luke 5:17-26

Jesus was teaching one day, and among the audience there were Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the Power of the Lord was behind his works of healing. Then some men appeared, carrying on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay down in front of him. But as the crowd made it impossible to find a way of getting him in, they went up on to the flat roof and lowered him and his stretcher down through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith he said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ The scribes and the Pharisees began to think this over. ‘Who is this man talking blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, made them this reply, ‘What are these thoughts you have in your hearts? Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralysed man – ‘I order you: get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’ And immediately before their very eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home praising God.

They were all astounded and praised God, and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’

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“Your sins are forgiven you.”

In today’s Gospel, we see the great faith towards the power of Christ, where it almost seems like no obstacle is too hard for the men to overcome, as long as they are able to bring the paralysed man to Christ. Did those men actually consider, what if the paralysed man couldn’t be healed? What if Jesus decided not to heal? What if, after everything, nothing could actually be done?

I’m sure these questions could have possibly been in the minds of those men, and many times in ours too. What if life after death isn’t as what we expect? What if we don’t make it to heaven? What if we’ve invested all our time and money in this faith but there are no returns? Are all these worth it?

Christ being aware, asks us, “Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you” or to say “Get up and walk”? What are we actually living for? What actually matters?

The men had faith not because of what Jesus was going to do, but because of what He has done. We should not live our lives today, in order that God will love us more or for us to go to heaven, but that all our Father has, is already ours. Are we overly focused on the pleasures of the world that we want our share of the property because we feel we know we can do better with our lives, or are we able to trust in our Father’s plan?

As in the first reading and the psalms, “he is coming to save you”, “Look, our God is coming to save us”. God has already made a gift of Himself to us through Jesus Christ but still empowers us with the Holy Spirit and assures us of His second coming, where we will all be one and united in Him. The only thing separating us from God is not our disabilities, weaknesses, lack of financial, intellectual, emotional or pastoral capacity but it is sin. Sin is hence the opposite of faith, where we doubt and question.

Let us prepare ourselves for His coming by removing sin from our lives, in order that we may fully encounter God in a deeper way. To not focus solely on the gifts/miracles but on the giver, our saviour. Amen

(Today’s OXYGEN by Benjamin Mao)

Prayer: Dear Lord, we pray that our faith will continue to grow stronger day by day, in that we will be able to overcome the challenges and struggles that life throws at us. To focus on what is truly important — love, peace, joy and hope — not just for ourselves, but to share with all.